Montreal-based Mirada Media recently custom-designed and installed a digital menu board system for iQ Food, a new ‘healthy takeout’ concept restaurant in downtown Toronto.

As a startup venture, iQ needed a flexible way to display its rapidly changing selection of dishes in an efficient and esthetically pleasing manner. For this reason, the restaurant’s founder, Alan Bekerman, chose digital boards over static paper-based displays.

“We knew over the course of the first several months, our entire model and menu would be tweaked,” he says. “Popular items would be heavily promoted and the ‘dogs’ would be pulled.”

Mirada installed four 1.2-m (46-in.) liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in stainless steel frames, hanging them from the ceiling in portrait mode. Three of these LCDs showcase menus based on dayparting (i.e. featuring meals at different times), while the fourth rotates through animated branding images and displays messages provided via social media, including song requests through Twitter. Meanwhile, an 813-mm (32-in.) employee-facing screen is connected to the restaurant’s point-of-sale (POS) system.

Another advantage of the network, which uses Mirada’s MenuView content management system, is the ability to feature seasonal fare, in keeping with the restaurant’s focus on cooking from scratch with whole, natural, locally produced ingredients.

“Offering seasonal products is at the core of what we do,” says Bekerman. “Using this platform allows us to promote these in a seamless and highly efficient manner. The digital menu system has been exceptionally well-received.”